So much negativity around Homecoming on gog.com

[Oakkin]

Link: https://www.gog.com/game/gwent_the_witcher_card_game.
Reviews for the last couple of days are overwhelmingly negative, and I personally don't think that HC deserves that much of a hit. If there's anybody loving the game in its current implementation, it would be great for you to leave your 5 cents of feedback as well, because potential players might be driven away from the game because of such a hiatus.

I'm not saying the game is perfect and I'm not a CDPR-fanboy (though I posted the similar thread in Russian and on reddit), it's just the feeling of unfairness that upsets me.

EDIT: I'M NOT ASKING FOR FAKE SUPPORT OF ANY KIND! Please understand it. The point is that there are people being silently satisfied with the game, and there are people raging about what the game has become. And it's always the same that the latter group is more vocal and willing to spill out bitter words. Can't blame them, and have no intention to, but I'm asking people positive about the game to let others know that they're positive. That there are people having fun.

At least I do So I wrote a review on the game. And judging by the ladder, I'm not the only one having fun there.

Just discovered this game and am having a blast. I don't know why or really care about how some people think it was better before.

 

[Vaerynn]

My suspicion is that the naysayers are people who felt they were really good under the old system and don't like having to start over so any major overhaul is going to upset them no matter what it is.

Before Mid-Winter I was able to get 4200+ MMR, sure. After Mid-Winter I did drop off a bit because I found the update to be egregious - specifically when it came to luck (create mechanic) based cards. Just to elaborate, I do not like leaving games to chance - win or lose, I'd much rather lose or win on merit, especially where possible.

Firstly, yes, any drastic overhauls to a game will ostracize some - if not the majority - of your player-base because they already have a vested interest in the previous iteration of the game (to some degree). Furthermore, I appear to be doing fine in New Gwent, however, I do not play as often as I use to (This is why my MMR is lower than it would usually be) - perhaps because the incentives are less than they use to be, but also because I am enjoying the current game less than the previous iteration (this means, I'm playing less than I did in Mid-Winter). I've no problem learning the new system (I often rack up massive amounts of losses testing the game out & figuring out how best to play - which I have done).

My experience is that this iteration is weaker than the previous. Many players have done their due diligence. I would appreciate that you did not make assumptions; I would rather you simply ask about things of which you do not know.

Edit: Minor change in spelling.

 

[Mancoon1980]

Playing devils advocate here but whilst a lot of players on these forums are certainly vocal I dont know for how many people they actually speak. I like homecoming just fine because its all I know. I think homecoming is very newb-friendly. My suspicion is that the naysayers are people who felt they were really good under the old system and don't like having to start over so any major overhaul is going to upset them no matter what it is. I think theres also a lot of jaded card game veterans who only value a game for its tactical depth and enjoy looking at spreadsheets and charts , when for the vast majority of players they'll probably find homecoming accessible and fun. At the end of the day, people who fell in love with Gwent and have been CDprojectreds core fan base have come over from the Witcher, not hearthstone. Appealing to fans of the latter probably wasn't the highest priority.

The variety is just gone. I could make any deck based around a single card. Old sleeping spear tip today I decided to build around since I never see him played. Used to buff my trolls, then throw him with a cyclops, then renew him. Bring out frost, use ogars that buff in cold, move the frost with bridge troll, then dual with a frost troll. Next round set up white frost for row stacking, let jotunn move 3 cards into a big hail storm. This deck didn't lose today, all cards no one expects and fun. I could never make a deck like this with homecoming

 

[flyhy]

Most of those paragraphs being hollow. At least it's not as bad as Metacritic. But still, those one star ratings are mostly based on emotions rather than objectively assessing the game. One star means garbage. You can say a lot about Homecoming, but garbage it's not. I can understand that players dislike Homecoming because it's not Gwent. But that doesn't automatically mean it's a bad game, it just means that it's something those players didn't want.

Rationality or objectivity doesn't yield a personal assessment. Love, hate, like, or dislike is a subjective response stemmed from emotion. Good or bad is also subjective, mainly based on what one thinks that constitutes a quality. People usually rate a product based on what they like or don't like because it's a personal experience, the relationship they shared with the product. If we were all to speak objectively, the internet would've never existed (... I mean the social part.) You wrote that comment there claiming one start means garbage cuz you sympathize with CDPR and HC. That's not objective nor rational.

Plus not everyone is eloquent with words. On a standard that you hold, for this subjective topic, those paragraphs may seem hollow, but to the people who left them, were enough for a constructive review.

 

[RVG1926]

We're been giving constructive feedback from day 1 of CB. It has led to this.

We've stayed with them through the unbalanced patches, the 2 months apart fixes, the mid-winter fiasco, the HC reveal skepticism and the drought of 6 months. Throughout the beta we've been one of the most comprehensive and positive communities in a world of vicious gaming communities because we loved the game and we trusted CDPR (with a lot of fanboyism in the middle). And they delivered a turd in response.

Words of truth were spoken.

None asked to remove 3rd row, none asked to remove 3rd copy of cards, none wanted to dumb down the game because it was too hard.

 

[idomyownstunts]

Who cares. Maybe it's warranted. Maybe it's fate heh.

 

[4RM3D]

Rationality or objectivity doesn't yield a personal assessment. Love, hate, like, or dislike is a subjective response stemmed from emotion. Good or bad is also subjective, mainly based on what one thinks that constitutes a quality. People usually rate a product based on what they like or don't like because it's a personal experience, the relationship they shared with the product. If we were all to speak objectively, the internet would've never existed (... I mean the social part.) You wrote that comment there claiming one start means garbage cuz you sympathize with CDPR and HC. That's not objective nor rational.

Plus not everyone is eloquent with words. On a standard that you hold, for this subjective topic, those paragraphs may seem hollow, but to the people who left them, were enough for a constructive review.

Ratings means different things to different people. With the skewed rating distribution, there are plenty who think that if a game doesn't score a 90+ on Metacritic is must be mediocre and anything below 75 is garbage. However, at the bottom of the ratings, more people tend to agree with the meaning thereof. A 10 (1 star) on Metacritic means garbage. The thing is, most people give this rating without regards to the gravity of the rating system. As such, it's usually better to just give a thumbs up or down, like on Steam and Netflix (though I still miss a neutral option).

Oh, that game has Denuvo. One star rating. What, the singleplayer has micro-transactions? One star rating. The game is locked at 60 FPS. One star. One star this, one star that. C'mon, what's the point? People are angry and want to scream for attention. So, they bomb the review page. And yes, it makes the "reviews" seem hollow. They are solely focused on one or two things the players find annoying, while disregarding the rest. Do those players have a point? Well, yeah, usually they do still have one. But is the review itself constructive? Eh, not quite. For the record, all of the above also applies for the positive reviews that just state "best game ever".

The rating system is flawed, people are flawed (me including), the internet is the internet and nothing really comes as a surprise. The only thing I sometimes wonder is how self-aware people are with regards to their (expression of their) feelings. In the end, getting bombed on the review page means players are upset. Those numbers should tell CDPR something, regardless of the contents therein.

 

[partci]

^ Well, I gave my 1* rating compared to what I had before and what I've been given now.

Here's your constructive - Homecoming sucks. Simple as that.

 

[Mancoon1980]

^ Well, I gave my 1* rating compared to what I have before and what I've been given now.

Here's your constructive - Homecoming sucks. Simple as that.

Your review made me shed a single tear. Bravo. I didn't see anything but real valid criticisms.

 

[static-ghost]

I did not give a detailed review, because I was quite active on the forum instead and left some of my thoughts here. I think everything has been said and chewed many times already.

 

[Fimbulthrym]

there are plenty who think that if a game doesn't score a 90+ on Metacritic is must be mediocre and anything below 75 is garbage

That alone shows the flaw is upwarts not downwarts. Nearly no game deserves 90+ rating, but most people give it, if they just like the game. Sow e know that and assume that correctly. Now, if the tides turned, the other extrem is shown, but not for its disadvantage. The most critic voivces here have more than 3, mostly more than 5 reasons to dislike the game.
Steam voting system is much more hollow, then i have to read every review to get, what is wrong excatly, to gte an overview. A 75% means not a great game but likeable.

So no reason here to accuse te rating system, which is there since years, only to defend this game.

 

[partci]

Your review made me shed a single tear. Bravo. I didn't see anything but real valid criticisms.

Actually you can go and look for my full review on GoG. Well, it's not full cause I ran out of characters, but still.

 

[4RM3D]

So no reason here to accuse te rating system, which is there since years, only to defend this game.

You misunderstood. I was discussing the rating system as a concept. This has nothing to do with defending the game.

 

[jgolden234]

Not really. The old version was instantly fun and addicting. I originally had no intention of spending money but it was so fun I dropped more than other game I've played. It's now no fun, like painfully not fun. I never played past rank 19 before because I played strictly my own decks, I played an ogre deck today on ps4 that was a blast, decks like this are dead on homecoming as well as any variety now in how matches play out.

I feel the opposite. It always seemed like I knew how a match was going to play out by the end of open beta. It was so depressing to see greatswords come through again and know I was going to lose. In homecoming I feel I have a chance at every game. I might feel different after the meta settles, but as of right now I am really enjoying it.

 

[Jarema27]

...

 

[_Kili_]

I've put 1k hours in this game and I'd really like to see it shine,but it's devour of all fun now. Maybe I'm just not the target anymore and you got hordes of new players enjoying the game, in that case disregard any criticism.

I'd really love to see a player comparison from beta Gwent to Homecoming Gwent.
If we count everyone above rank 20 as more or less active player, there are around 40-50k players judging by ladder rank ( A friend of mine is rank 18 and he's somewhere around #38k)
I'd estimate we had at least 3 times as much during beta, though I could be terribly wrong ofcourse, I'm only guessing here

 

[Draconifors]

I'd estimate we had at least 3 times as much during beta, though I could be terribly wrong ofcourse, I'm only guessing here

Irrelevant, because currently only PC players are on the ladder. Check again after the console release.

And more on topic: people are, and always will be, more likely to express their opinion when it's negative. It's a lot easier to go around saying "this sucks!" (especially when other people are already being vocal about it) than "this is great!" (especially when others seem to be of the opposite opinion).

 

[_Kili_]

Irrelevant, because currently only PC players are on the ladder. Check again after the console release.

Judging by the amount of console players I have met in beta I'd say they're neglegible

 

[Jarema27]

...

 

[Mancoon1980]

Actually you can go and look for my full review on GoG. Well, it's not full cause I ran out of characters, but still.

That's the one I'm referring too